Wu Yu

Artist Biography - Wu Yu

Wu Yu born in 1970, in the province of Heilogjaingand witnessed significant changes through his life that affected his view on what modern China has become. Wu Yu was brought up in a tumultuous time in China's history at the peak of the 'Cultural revolution' a sociopolitical movement in China from 1966 until 1976. Launched by Mao Zedong, then Chairman of the Communist Party... of China, its stated goal was to preserve Chinese Communism by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society, and to re-impose Mao Zedong Thought (known outside China simply as Maoism) as the dominant ideology within the Party.

In his work he portrays and focuses on the famous character created by Mao, Hong Wei Bing - the red soldier - the symbol of the revolution. One heroic female peasant soldier that was loyal and dedicated to the Revolution, above her own life. The essence of the perfect Red soldier, the ideal Chinese holding the red book.

In his work one can sense a slight, cartoonish over tone, which in his view, represents the centre-wave of mass industrialization in China. During the modernisation of China, even a sacred symbol, extremely controversial and often painful, was also made into a mass-produced commodity as cartoons, in a new era that all that mattered was no longer ideals but money.